by janecanapini | Nov 19, 2018 | History, United States, Virginia
I always think of George Washington as a bit of a grumpy old man. Just look at the face on every American dollar bill: stern expression, mouth set in a clenched line, sidelong gaze looking just past you. Not exactly the kind of man you’d imagine sharing a few...
by janecanapini | Nov 11, 2018 | History, United States, Virginia
It was a battle that everyone thought would be over before it began, yet it would mark the beginning of a 4-year-long bloody conflict that would rip a country apart before stitching it back together, and destroy once and for all any naively romantic notion of the...
by janecanapini | Jan 19, 2018 | Attractions, History, Mexico
Twenty years ago I stood sweating in the humid, stifling gloom inside one of the most famous Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, the giant pyramid of Chichen Itza. Although not generally claustrophobic, I found myself having second thoughts as I contemplated climbing the...
by janecanapini | Nov 23, 2017 | Attractions, History, Ireland
Long, long before there were churches in Ireland (of either the Catholic or Protestant persuasion), there were sacred sites that drew thousands to worship, to bury their dead, to transition to the afterlife, or to ask the gods for good fortune. These pagan sites and...
